Skip to main content
The stops of the sightseeing bus in Reykjavik Iceland. Horrible route and little to see.

The stops of the sightseeing bus in Reykjavik Iceland. Horrible route and little to see.

[dropcap style=”one” color=”grey” text=”F” /]labbergasted is a word team Total Iceland is very fond of. Don´t ask us why but it is well applicable to all those foreigners hopping on the Citysightseeing Reykjavik tour bus continuously making the rounds in the capital.

If you are from Europe you know these double-decker buses well enough since these are operated in most European capitals and larger cities. If from elsewhere these are buses from which you can hop-on and hop-off wherever they make a stop and thus, in theory, take in all the sights the easy and affordable way.

But in Reykjavik this is neither easy nor affordable and best skipped altogether. First off, there is not much to see in Reykjavik contrary to what tour brochures would have you believe. For the large majority and with only a handful of exceptions, the downtown area is the most enticing part of this city and that part is small and easy to view on foot.[blockquote type=”blockquote_line” align=”right”]„there is not much to see in Reykjavik contrary to what tour brochures would have you believe“[/blockquote]

Other stops for the bus include the Hallgrimskirkja church and the National museum, both worth a visit but also both within ten minutes walk from the center of the downtown area. The only other place worth seeing on the route is the Perlan sightseeing platform. Other stops are not sights at all but rather bus and ferry terminals.

For the „small“ fee of 25$ / 21€ you can thus see places you can easily walk to. Which does not make sense to us. Why pay cold hard cash to drive to places you can easily see on foot or worst case, buy a ticket with the regular yellow buses in the city for the price of 4$ / 2€ and go anywhere you want.